My wife just got home from work and told me she heard on the news there was a fire going on in Black Forest, Colorado. As near as I can tell from the fire zone maps on the internet this is not looking good for Al (57dohc). His house is where four of us forumn members met in April.
AL...let us know you're ok, or if any of the Colorado members hears from him, let us know.
The fire is 8500(?) acres so far, with 90 houses estimated lost, apparently started yesterday. The fire map I was looking at shows the center of the fire very close...1/4 mile? from his house.
Buddy, I'm hoping the best for you and Sue, and Marty also.!
I contacted Al thru here yesterday and he has evacuated and is safe but the entire area is really bad. We are far enough south to stay out of the fire but the town has been covered in smoke between 2 fires as one is going on in Canyon city south of us. We drove out to Falcon last night which is on the eastern edge of the fires as my son had us store a car and personal items at our house. He rents a home there so not quite as dramatic but we got within 5 miles of the fires last night and T.V. cannot prepare you for this. We have 4 known areas in the state with bad fires right now and I see quite a few faces on the TV that were in the Waldo Canyon disaster last year.
The fire has changed direction today and is heading for our close friends kids house we are all on pins and needles as everyone has evacuated with scenes of the forest blazing nearby as a parting memory. As always we hope for the best, prepare for the worst and keep our loved ones close.
Jon...thanks for posting. Glad to here Al is safe...hopefully his property is too. I hadn't realized there were other fires going on in the springs area. I know there is also a fire north of Denver.
Best of luck to your friends.
Sent Al a pm..hopefully he'll see it. I'm trying to compare a street map with arial photos of the areas of burnt / unburnt homes to see if I can see his property or Marty's.
The news and weather people just got around to talking about the situation in Colorado today 6//13.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those people involved.
Rich you don't want to see pictures of that area right now. it's heartbreaking and we have many friends that have lost just about everything. We have been helping all we can whenever possible and feel blessed we are on the helping side. This won't be over soon.
Did some searching this afternoon. They have a list of properties they have checked, or tried to check, and catorized them according to "not affected","some damage","total loss",or not "verifyable". The list was posted today at 2 pm. Anyway, Marty, the friend of Al's (DOHC57) who he took our group to meet and drull over his colections had his property listed as "not affected". That's wonderful news. Marty was a really neat guy that opened his doors to a small group of strangers that shared a common interest.
I could not find Al's property on the list of properties. It doesn't mean anything other than his street wasn't checked for whatever reason.
Rich;
As of this morning, my property is still undamaged. We have a preacher that lives down our lane that head up a church with a membership of about 5,000 and just happens to have members (deputy sheriffs and fire fighters) that have access to the area that have been checking on his property and also ours. Not divine intervention but handy non the less. I spoke with Marty this morning and he thinks he is okay as well.
I have had several friends that have lost there homes. We have had 10 members of the church I attend that lost there homes as well. One poor elderly lady had a funeral for her husband of 62 years at noon on tuesday and lost her home that same night.
The fire actually started 1/4 mile form our house and passed north of us heading east. We watched it from our metal barn with flames 300 feet in the air; it traveled 8 miles in less than 5 hours. If the wind had changed from the north,it would have been on in 5 minutes. We were happy to evacuate!
All you guys that complain about rain just remember what happens when you don't have any!
Relieved to hear..... very fortunate on your part of the world. Lots of your neighbors aren't faring as well.
Al that is great news and thanks for a positive update on Marty's place. That place is a museum and we thought of what a loss it would be. We too have friends that are not as fortunate but the people are safe. We have close friends that are right on the corner of 83 and 105 so everyone watches the people on the news on site to try to get a glimpse.
I would welcome some divine intervention.
Lots of heartbreaking stories coming out of this one.
Al..I'm hoping nothing has changed since you posted last. Are you one of the fortunate ones that was allowed back into your home?
Rich;
We still have not been allowed back in. I'm pretty sure the fire will have to be completely out and controlled checkpoints established before we can return home. Probably Monday or Tuesday at the earliest.
My area was unaffected by the fire and I understand that the electricity even stayed on. We might have some smoke issues but will just have to wait and see. While we are comfortable, we are getting anxious to get back home. Everyone has been very helpful and many centers have been opened to help those not as comfortable as us. Our insurance company (Farmers) fronted us $500 to cover any evacuation expenses which we don't have to justify nor repay the balance if we don't spend it. I don't think other companies did this so I will give them a heads up for their great service.
Thank everyone for your concern. Al
Al that is great news thanks for the update. I couldn't stand any more TV on this. We took a ride out east and the skies look pretty clear until some much appreciated rain. Any word from Marty?
Al...that was pretty good of Farmers.
Depending on a posible emergency run to Phoenix, I may be up next weekend if they are still having the nsra show in pueblo. If you get in to your property and find yourself overwelmed with cleanup..let me know...I can help for a few days if I can handle that thin air (had a hard time with it in April)
First of all, we are back in our home today. No damage whatsoever other than the natural gas has not been turned on. One ridge north of our house shows a few burned trees on the horizon but still a 1/4 mile away. Couldn't be happier for us but still sad for the 502 other families that lost their homes.
My 57 project remains as before; no visit from the car fairies to do any work or prehaps leave me a nice plastic engine block or some more nice c clamps like you have. Nice work on that transmission crossmember by the way!
If you do make to pueblo this weekend let me know as I might be able to sneak away for a bit on Saturday. Thanks! Al
Glad to hear everything is ok with your home. Must have been a huge relief to see it with your own eyes. You have had a rough year to deal with the health issues, so the good news on the property was doubly good. I'll let you know if I can make it up.
LOL...so, it's the fairies that have plastic engine blocks...hmmm.
Funny how things work out sometimes. My daughter and her husband live in Colorado Springs. They have kept us up to date with respect to the fires, homes lost and the impact on them. They were/are looking for a house to buy, narrowed it down to two, both were taken in the fire. One of those houses hit close to home, it belonged to a fellow serviceman. She is heart broken for the loss of the home owner, a fellow Air Force Officer and his wife they met last August when they transferred there. USAA has been good to that couple so far, she says that they too have "temporary shelter" money. No idea how things will be once they and the adjuster get in to look, they just know the place is gone.
Really glad to hear you guys are good and all is in tact!
Glad to hear all is safe and good Al.
Bill...one of the things I found out...the two people that died in the fire unable to escape were air force people also.
Rich I really hate to hear that. Military life is hard and dangerous enough (there have been more "training deaths" then combat deaths since 2002) without having something like this happen. Don't know if she knew those folks, the Academy is very large and there are a couple of more installations in the immediate area.